In the wake of a suicide last month at the University of Alberta (U of A), students are expressing concern about the possibility of losing critical mental health funding.
U of A received a $1 million grant from the Alberta government each year over a three-year period that has gone to hiring additional mental health counselors. With the grant set to expire next April, the Alberta New Democratic Party government has not said whether it will be renewed.
Navneet Khinda, president of U of A’s student union, said if the grant is not renewed, the university would have to find money elsewhere to support its mental health services.
She said the worst-case scenario would be some of the clinical resources like psychologists being let go.
U of A student Evan Tran, 21, committed suicide over this Thanksgiving weekend. His family publicized his death, hoping to raise awareness about depression.
There were two other “non-criminal” deaths on campus in the past year. U of A added new suicide prevention services in that period.
Khinda said Tran’s death lends itself to the conversation about mental health.
She said the grant would help sustain the resources the university currently has in place.
“Right now we’re already seeing there’s more demand for the services than we can actually offer,” Khinda said. “So some students who aren’t in [a] critical condition have to wait a couple weeks to see someone.”
According to Kevin Friese, executive director of U of A’s wellness centre, the bulk of the grant funding has gone to hiring psychologists who have been deployed to different faculties of the school.
“It’s kind of taking that traditional model of ‘here’s our office and you come to us in need,’ . . . and taking much more of a grassroots approach to transplanting those mental health supporters into faculties so that they can be right there for students to access where it’s most convenient,” Friese said.
According to Friese, one of the main challenges was to make sure those in need of the resources are accessing them, which involves informing the friends and family of those in need as well.
“What has become very apparent is that the challenge isn’t always just making people aware of them but finding ways to ensure that people have the support they need to support someone in crisis,” Friese said.
Friese said Tran’s suicide has further opened up mental health discussions on campus.
“I think any time you have a devastating suicide that’s taken place within the community it obviously underscores the challenges associated with trying to provide support to the community,” he said.
“It also provides a really positive opportunity for the dialogue about sensitive issues like suicide and also allows us to highlight the great things we do have available to students in the communities to try to help support them,” Friese added.
Khinda said discussions with the government about the grant are ongoing and ideally a decision will be made by January.
“When you’re at university you’re in this environment all the time, we need the services that are closest to us,” she said. “That’s why we have a mental health centre, or a physical wellness centre here, so all the services are actually nearby.”
